Unexpected Meeting
by cuz-CM's-awesome
Summary: Unexpectedly Reid meets someone he never thought he would see again and he wants answers.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds and I'm not making any profit off of this story. **

**Summary: Unexpectedly Reid meets someone he never thought he would see again and he wants answers. **

**This is written for the Fanfic Challenge 21 – The Future Fic Challenge on CCOAC forum, I think this has to be one of my favorite challenges so far and had a lot of fun with it. Thinking this story will probably end up being between 3 and 4 chapters long. **

**Please R&R**

**Enjoy! **

…

Spencer hurried down the front steps of the Denver Convention Center. He only had half an hour before the conference he was attending resumed, and he needed coffee.

He hated attending these types of events. It didn't matter how many conferences he had attended before, they never got any easier and he always ended up stressed out.

Normally they weren't that bad when he was with one of the other members of the team but this time he had been the only one requested to speak.

Walking quickly down the block Spencer turned into the first coffee shop he saw.

He sighed as he took in the long line but moved to take his place at the back anyways.

Spencer looked around as he waited. It was a small shop with a rather homey feel to it. There weren't many seats taken as it seemed as though most of the customers were taking their orders to go. Inhaling the delicious sent of freshly brewed coffee Spencer wished that he could spend the rest of his day relaxing in one of the comfy looking armchairs at the back of the shop.

He shook his head, it was a nice thought but he knew he had to get back to the conference.

As the line moved up Spencer reached his hand into his pants' pocket and pulled out a handful of change.

While he shifted through it looking for the right amount of change for a medium bold coffee, he was caught off guard when a heavy weight hit his legs and a few of the coins spilled onto the floor.

Confused Spencer looked down.

A young boy, possibly around six or seven, with wavy blonde hair was sprawled out on the floor. He pushed himself up and then looked around slightly dazed before looking up at Spencer.

His large brown eyes widened behind dark square frames "Oh…I'm so sorry Mister," he said quickly before hurrying to pick up all of the dropped coins.

As he was holding them out to Spencer a sharp voice rang out through the coffee shop and the little boy hung his head.

"Payton, what have I told you about running indoors?"

Spencer's head snapped up and he looked towards the door. He hadn't heard that voice in a very long time but he would know it anywhere.

He frowned as his eyes took in the woman standing just inside the door. She was wearing a grey pantsuit, a pink blouse underneath her jacket being the only color in her outfit and she had long and flowing brown hair. She looked nothing like the Penelope Garcia he had known but yet Spencer knew it was her.

He couldn't believe it.

Penelope marched inside never taking her eyes off the little boy, who Spencer guessed was her son, as the resemblance was uncanny.

"You could have gotten hurt or hurt someone else, what were you thinking?" she asked.

The boy's lower lip trembled "I'm sorry Mama, I didn't mean to."

Penelope's look softened "It's okay," she said gently, her hand ruffling his blonde locks "You just need to be more careful."

The boy nodded.

Penelope looked up from her son "Sorry about th…" her apology died on her lips when she realized for the first time who exactly was standing across from her.

"Reid…" Penelope faltered.

"Garcia," he replied back after a moment.

They stood in silence just staring at each other for a few seconds until Payton spoke up "Mama, are you okay?"

Penelope snapped out of it, she looked down at her son "Yes…yes I'm fine. Payton why don't you go find us a seat?"

"You'll remember to get me a chocolate chip cookie?" he asked.

"Of course," Penelope answered.

"Okay," he said, then before he ran off to find them seats he shoved the coins he had picked up at Spencer "Here you go Mister, sorry for running into you."

It took Spencer a moment before he reached out and took the money "It's okay," he said

Payton smiled at him and then hurried off to find him and his mom seats.

Spencer looked back at Penelope, he couldn't believe the woman was actually standing in front of him, he hadn't seen her in almost eight years.

The entire team had been shocked eight years prior when Penelope had agreed to marry Kevin Lynch and move away with him.

Spencer still remembered that Penelope had been acting strange for a few weeks leading up to that fateful day but he never would have guessed that she would agree to moving. She always said that the team was her family and she always put them first. Kevin had never really been okay with that but it was the way it had always been and the team had never believed it would change.

But then Penelope had started to act withdrawn. She wasn't herself, even her witty banter had dimmed and the team had no idea what had caused her to act that way.

Then she had up and left with Kevin, giving them barely any notice and no forwarding address.

She left on the same day that she told them her and Kevin would be moving away. They hadn't had time to try and talk her out of it. She had even already been cleared with Strauss and her resignation papers had gone through the system.

The next day there was no trace of her. Her office had been cleaned out and even her favorite mug was gone from the kitchenette.

It had hit the team hard. They tried to get in touch with her but she had obviously gone to some effort in order to not be found.

"Reid, what are you doing here?" she said snapping him out of his thoughts.

He frowned after 8 years that was the first thing she said to him. No 'Hi' or 'Hello' or 'Jeeze it's been a long time since I walked out on you guys, how have you been?' just a disdainful 'What are you doing here?'

Spencer studied her momentarily. She was being rather cold towards him almost like he had been the one to run away, for what she had done could be classified as nothing else, though what she had been running from Spencer still had no idea.

He wondered for what must have been the thousandth time, what had happened to her.

She shook her head "I know you're profiling me and you can stop it right now."

"Garcia," Spencer began slowly "what happened to you? You left with barely a goodbye and no contact information."

Penelope was rescued from having to reply when an angry man behind them snapped "Hey bud, you're next in line, mind getting a move on?"

"Sorry," Spencer apologized "here, you can go ahead." He moved out of the way and the man passed him with an annoyed grunt.

Then Spencer turned back to look at Penelope, he wanted answers.

Penelope let out a deep breath "Reid, please, don't make me go through this."

Spencer gave her a disbelieving look "Are you kidding me? What, do you expect me to walk out of here like I never saw you? Do you know what it did to us when you left? How worried we were, how hard we tried to tack you down?"

Spencer had even begun to accept that he would really never see Penelope again.

When he looked back at her he saw tears beginning to well in her eyes and felt a twinge of regret, he didn't want to make her cry but he needed answers.

"I'm sorry," she said to him looking down.

Spencer took a step closer "Garcia," he said gently "please tell me what happened to you. I've missed you so much, the whole team has, and I just can't walk away now."

Penelope sighed; she looked over to where Payton was sitting patiently as he waited from her to come over. "I promised Payton that we could stop here for a treat but I guess if you'd like to join us I can explain why I left while I have my coffee."

Spencer looked down at his watch, only then remembering about the conference, he only had fifteen minutes to get back.

"Do you have somewhere to be?" Penelope asked sounding slightly hopeful.

"No," Reid answered deciding then and there that it was more important that he stayed and talked to his old friend than going to some boring conference that he didn't even want to be at anyway. He knew that the Director would be unhappy and Hotch probably wouldn't be too pleased when he found out either but he knew that had the team been there they would have agreed.

Penelope sighed but nodded before moving up in line to get her coffee and cookie.

Spencer followed, excited by the prospect of finally getting some answers.


	2. Chapter 2

**Don't Own. **

**Please R&R **

**Enjoy! **

**…**

Spencer followed Penelope to where Payton was sitting at the back of the coffee shop in one of the big comfy chairs.

A wide grin spread across Payton's face as Penelope handed him his cookie "Thanks Mama," he said before taking a bite.

"You're welcome Sweetheart," Penelope said with a smile.

Payton made a face at the endearment. Then he noticed Spencer hovering behind his mom and gave him a questioning look.

"Mama what's he doing here?" Payton asked pointing at Spencer.

Penelope shook her head "Payton, don't point, it's rude."

"Sorry Mama," Payton muttered.

Penelope sighed "Payton this is Spencer, he's an old friend of mine."

Payton's eyes widened "Is he one of the ones you always tell me about, from your old team?" he asked excitedly.

Penelope took a moment to answer "Yes," she finally said tensely.

Payton bounced up and down in his seat "Really? My mom always talks about you guys. Is it true you work for the FBI?"

"Yes it is," Spencer said with a small smile, amused by the boy's excitement.

"That's so awesome!" Payton said "And my mom used to work with you guys?"

Spencer nodded.

"Cool. Do you carry a gun?" Payton just about shouted and a few people around them looked over.

"Payton!" Penelope scolded.

"Sorry Mama," he said and then in almost a whisper asked Spencer "Do you?"

Spencer looked to Penelope before slowly nodding.

"Oh wow," Payton mused "Can I see it?"

"No," Penelope said shaking her head.

"Oh Mama, please?" Payton begged.

"Actually Payton, this isn't the best place, your mom is right, maybe some other time" Spencer injected.

Payton deflated a little "Okay…" Spencer watched as he swung his feet back and forth with his head down.

Then he looked up hesitantly and bit his lip before asking "Do you know my…"

"Payton," Penelope interrupted a stern look on her face "why don't you work on your reading?" It was half suggestion, half order as she pulled an ipad out of her purse and handed it to him.

Payton pouted "Mama…" he whined.

"Don't whine Payton." she told him "Don't you want to watch your cartoons tonight?"

"Yes Mama," he said.

"Well then if you do your reading now you can watch your cartoons as soon as we get home."

"Okay Mama," Payton said though he still seemed reluctant.

"Thank you," Penelope said and handed over his headphones "now remember to read along to the words."

Payton nodded and put in his headphones. Then he tapped the screen of the tablet and his lips began moving along to the words.

Spencer sat down in a chair across from Penelope.

"Well he sure is inquisitive," he stated.

"Yes, he…" she trailed off before nodding and continued with "he is, isn't he?"

Spencer just nodded in return as he wondered what Penelope had caught herself from saying.

"How old is he?" Spencer asked glancing at Payton.

"He just turned seven last month," Penelope said.

Spencer quickly did the math "That means you were pregnant with him when you left, or was he born premature?"

"A bit of both actually," Penelope explained "I was two and a half months pregnant with him when we left and he was born a month premature."

"So is he why you left?" Spencer asked making sure to keep his voice down, Payton did seem immersed in his reading but Spencer didn't want to chance it.

"Yes," Penelope answered rather quickly and it made Spencer wonder if she was being truthful "after seeing what Will and JJ had gone through that time with the serial killing bank robbers, Kevin and I decided that we didn't want our child growing up in a world like that, always having to worry if he was safe."

Spencer studied his friend, it did seem like she was mostly telling the truth but there was just something about it that he didn't believe.

"Garcia, what aren't you telling me?" Spencer asked.

She frowned and Spencer noticed that her fingers were fidgeting.

"Nothing," she said though it wasn't convincing "there were so many times that the job seemed to interfere with our personal lives. When I was shot, when Foyet killed Haley, when Emily almost died…when you were taken by Hankel," Penelope looked down guiltily for having brought it up "I didn't want my child to ever have to go through something like that."

"But surely you knew that the team was there to protect you?" Spencer said "No matter what was thrown at us we always managed to get through it, as you always used to say, we're family."

Penelope cringed at that.

"There had to be more than that Garcia, no one ever believed you would leave, you were always the one trying to keep us all together no matter what happened."

"There isn't," Penelope said looking away.

"Garcia, don't tell me in all these years you've forgotten how hard it is to lie to a profiler?" Spencer stated.

Penelope bit her lip "Reid…" she began.

"No," Spencer said surprising her "I know there is something you're not telling me and I'm not leaving here until you tell me the truth."

Penelope didn't say anything, she looked past Spencer to Payton and Spencer could see her eyes beginning to tear up again.

Spencer leaned forward in his chair so that he was leaning into Penelope's space. He gently placed a hand on one of her fidgeting ones, her eyes flew to his in surprise but Spencer didn't pull away. "Please Garcia, tell me the truth, I still care about you and I can tell something is bothering you. Tell me so I can help you."

"I can't…" Penelope began looking around but before Spencer could protest further she added "at least not here."

Spencer frowned but then nodded "Okay, where then?"

"You can come to my place, I'll tell you there." Penelope said.

"Alright," Spencer agreed.

So they finished up their coffees, not really talking much while they waited for Payton to finish his reading. Once Payton was done they gathered up their things and Spencer followed them to their home which was only a few blocks away.

…

As soon as Penelope had unlocked the door to their small apartment, Payton ran inside.

"Mama, I can watch the Avengers now right?" Payton asked.

"Yes Sweetheart, you did a very good job with your reading today, do you need me to set it up for you?" Penelope asked.

"No, that's okay, I know how to do it" Payton said before running out of the room.

Spencer looked around the apartment. They were standing in the hallway, to the right there was a small living room area and next to it was the kitchenette. To the left, the way Payton had headed, there was another hallway where Spencer assumed led to the bedrooms.

Spencer had to admit that it seemed like a downgrade from where Penelope used to live, it was probably a bit more than half the size of her old place and really not meant for a family of three to be living in it. It seemed more like a bachelor apartment. Spencer wondered how Lynch could allow his family to live there.

Penelope gestured for him to follow her to the living room. His eyes scanned the room as he walked behind her. There were quite a few pictures on the wall and mantle. Mostly they were of Payton, a few of them were of both him and Penelope but Spencer didn't see any with Lynch which he found strange.

He sat down on the couch and Penelope sat beside him.

"Do you want anything to drink?" she asked.

"No I'm fine thanks," Spencer said.

Penelope nodded and then sighed. She looked at her hands for a moment before looking up at Spencer.

"Okay," she finally said, her voice kind of shaky "I'll tell you everything you want to know, just let me take my time because this…this is hard for me, and please don't interrupt. I know you'll have some burning questions but let me finish first."

Spencer nodded.

Penelope let out a shaky breath and Spencer took her hand again and squeezed it reassuringly. She looked up and gave him a small smile.

"Okay," she began "after I found out I was pregnant I was a nervous wreck. Kevin and I had never talked about children and to be honest at the time I was thinking about ending it with him. He had never really been able to get over the fact that I had said no to him the first time he asked me to marry him. I'm even surprised that we lasted another two years together after he asked me out after that case with JJ and Will. I wasn't sure what I was going to do," a tear rolled down Penelope's cheek and she said very quietly "I even considered getting rid of it just so I wouldn't have to tell Kevin or have a reason for staying with him."

Penelope shifted uncomfortably in her spot "But then Kevin found the test that I had taken and he was ecstatic. He said it was just what we needed since I think even he knew our relationship wasn't going anywhere. He said it would be a fresh start and asked me to marry him again. I said yes because I was selfish, I was too afraid of being a single mom to tell him the truth…that I didn't love him anymore. Then he suggested that we move away and at the time…well I guess I thought it was the right thing to do."

Spencer had a feeling that that wasn't the whole reason for moving away but he had promised to let her finish so he kept that thought to himself.

"We moved to a small two story house in Lansing Michigan and Reid, I swear to you, every day since I left I missed you guys. It only took me a week at the new house to realize I had made a mistake and I wished I could take it back and fly back to Virginia, but I thought if I just gave it a chance maybe it would get better. However it never did. Kevin and I still grew apart; the baby didn't change any of that."

Penelope stopped for a moment and looked at Spencer. Spencer gave her an encouraging look and Penelope closed her eyes tightly and clenched her fists. This was the hardest part but she knew she had to come clean, that if she was going to tell Spencer she had to tell him the whole truth. She knew she would feel a lot better when she did, finally getting it off her chest and all, but that didn't make it any easier.

"Kevin was also getting suspicious." Penelope continued "There was a secondary reason for why I left and Kevin had started to figure it out. I'm sure he realized that the dates of conception didn't make any sense. He and I were barely intimate anymore and during the weeks that Payton would have been conceived he and I weren't even together. Kevin was working with Cooper's team and I was with you guys on a case."

Spencer tried to understand what Penelope was telling him but it was just so shocking. If Kevin wasn't Payton's father, who was?

"In the last few months leading up to Payton's birth, Kevin had become irritable, he angered easily and nothing I did seemed to please him. He never asked me outright if Payton wasn't his but he did ask me questions about how far along I was exactly and questions about the team that he wouldn't have normally asked. A month before my due date I knew he had figured it out and knew that I had to get away from him. He wasn't physically abusive but there were signs leading to it. I had seen those signs in victims before and began secretly planning to leave him."

Spencer listened intently; he never in a million years would have guessed that Penelope would cheat on anyone. He badly wanted to ask her who Payton's father was but knew not to interrupt.

"I had finally decided that I would leave Kevin and head back to Virginia. I knew I couldn't fly since I was so close to my due date so I had to make other arrangements. I planned to drive a few hours away where I had a friend who said I could stay with her and then take the train and two buses in order to get back. I took a week to get all my things in order and then on the day that I had planned to leave, as I was finishing packing, Kevin came home from work early. He asked me if I was going somewhere and I tried to lie and say that I was just packing a bag for when the baby came and we had to go to the hospital. He didn't believe me and as I was walking out of the bedroom he grabbed me by my hair and pulled me back. He shoved me against the wall and then raised his fist and hit me. I was frantic and knew I had to somehow get past him. My cell phone was in my purse which was in the kitchen and Kevin had no intention of letting me go."

Penelope couldn't help it as tears rolled down her cheeks at the memory. Anger rose in Spencer, he couldn't believe Kevin had hit their Penelope; he wanted to strangle the man. However he pushed aside his anger for a moment in order to comfort her. His arm reached around Penelope and pulled her close. She cried on his shoulder while he rubbed her back.

After a few minutes she sniffed and continued her story.

"He started to rant as he paced back and forth. Saying he had known for a while that I had cheated on him and that he should have known I was such a slut. He thought Morgan was the father and said he should have seen it coming. He wasn't really watching me and I took a chance. There was an old antique clock we had that was on the wall above me. I managed to get it off its hook, it was a bit of a struggle because of the angle and because of how heavy it was but once I had it off I smashed it as hard as I could over Kevin's head. He fell to the floor and I was able to get away. I grabbed my purse from the counter but left everything else. I ran out to my car and began driving away, I was heading to the police station but then my water broke and I had to head to the hospital instead."

Spencer's eyes caught one of the photos that was sitting on the mantle of Payton in a soccer uniform; he took in the boy's pale complexion and knew that Morgan couldn't be the father.

New tears slipped down Penelope's face and Spencer felt horrible for making her remember and retell her story.

Penelope seemed to know what he was thinking for she patted his leg and said "It's okay, it actually helps to finally tell someone."

Spencer gave her a sad smile "I'm just so sorry you had to go through it in the first place."

Penelope nodded then took a deep breath and continued.

"Payton was born a few hours later. I told one of the nurses what had happened and when I told her I was going to go to the police she advised me against it. She told me being a nurse she had seen woman in my situation before and that she believed Kevin would only get a slap on the wrist since it was only his first offense and my injuries weren't severe. That scared me and so when she offered me help I took it. She told the other nurses and doctors that Kevin and I were separating and so he wasn't allowed into my hospital room. They allowed me to stay there for a week before she had a friend of hers drive me to Detroit where she knew a woman that could give me a place to stay."

"The place was small but nice and the woman, Mrs. Tillie, was very friendly and helpful. A few times I thought about trying to get back to Virginia but Payton was so young and I knew that if Kevin was looking for me he'd be searching all the airport databases for flights heading to Virginia and the surrounding area. I thought that if I booked a ticket for myself and Payton, if Kevin saw our names he might be able to get us before we were safely home."

Spencer continued to gently rub Penelope's back, knowing just how hard this was for her, he wished he could go back in time and stop her from going in the first place.

"We stayed there for four years. It was hard but we made it through. I was starting to think that maybe I had been overly dramatic and that Kevin wasn't actually hunting us down. I knew he had been angry but thought that I was probably over exaggerating and thought that Kevin must have moved on. But then one day when I got back from taking Payton to preschool Mrs. Tillie said that a man had come by asking for me. She had told him that there was no one by the name of Penelope living there but that he had persisted until she threatened to call the cops. The description she gave me sounded just like Kevin, fear took over me and I hurried to Payton's preschool to pick him up. I was so relieved when I got there and he was just fine. With the help of Mrs. Tillie we left that night. We got on a bus which took us through Indiana and to Illinois; we ended up staying in Chicago for 6 months before leaving and taking a bus to Iowa. Mrs. Tillie said that it was important to keep moving. So for the next few years we continued across the country. We only made it here to Colorado two months ago."

They sat in silence for a while before Spencer broke it "Wow, that's some story."

Penelope nodded "Now you see why I couldn't come back don't you? I wish I could have but there was just no way."

Spencer didn't say anything. Truthfully he believed that if Penelope had really wanted to come home she could have found a way. If she had just called him or one of the other members of the team they would have been happy to come and get her and they would have protected her from Kevin.

But then again, Payton's father was most likely someone from the team and since he had ruled himself and Morgan out that only left Rossi and Hotch, and Spencer could see Penelope not wanting to face that. However he couldn't know for sure, maybe Payton's father was someone she had met while they were on the case; there was only one way to find out.

"Garcia," Spencer said slowly "who is Payton's father?"

Penelope cringed, she knew the question was coming but she really didn't want to answer it.

"Garcia," Spencer urged "come on, you can tell me."

Penelope bit her lip and looked at the floor "Hotch," she muttered.

Even though Spencer had thought that would most likely be the answer it was still hard to grasp. He knew that Rossi was a more likely candidate given his history but Spencer could still remember the way Hotch had reacted when Penelope left.

He had tried to talk her out of it, had taken her to his office where they had a long discussion and he had looked so dejected when they finally emerged from his office without having been able to change her mind. He had taken it personally and afterwards had ended up blaming himself for her leaving. Spencer had just thought it was because he believed he had failed to keep the team safe so many times but now Spencer knew the truth. They had slept together and that's why Hotch blamed himself for her leaving. He wondered what had happened after they had slept together, what had been said that caused Penelope to decide to leave and tear the team apart.

"You remember that case right? The one in Kentucky where that internet predator was luring children to him with promises of escape from their abusive homes and then kidnapping them?"

Spencer nodded. There was no way he could forget that case. He rated it as one of the worst he had ever seen. When they finally caught the unsub they had found all of the children he had kidnapped dead, there was forty-nine of them going back ten years.

The whole team had gone out drinking that night; he had even had a few rounds just to numb the pain of what they all had seen.

"Well that night when we had all made our way up to our own rooms, Aaron had walked with me to mine since his was close by and instead of leaving when I had opened my door, he leaned in and kissed me. We were both drunk. Aaron had recently broken up with Beth and I was in a lonely, loveless relationship, not to mention the fact that I had always been attracted to him. Things just happened and then when we woke up in the morning he told me he regretted the night before, that he hadn't been in his right mind and that it could never happen again. The next few weeks I could barely look at him and he seemed to be giving me the cold shoulder. Then I found out I was pregnant and well…I ran away."

"I'm sorry Garcia," Spencer said.

Penelope shook her head "Why are you sorry? It's not your fault."

"I just wish you never had to go through everything you had and maybe if I had been a better profiler, I could have seen what was happening and helped you. I feel like we let you down."

"Oh Boy Genius, you did no such thing, there was nothing you could have done," Penelope said wrapping her arms around him and giving him a hug "don't beat yourself up about it."

"That might have been true," Spencer said pulling away "I may not have been able to do anything before, but I can do something now."

Penelope frowned; she had no idea what he was going on about.

"Come with me," Spencer said.

"What?" Penelope asked in confusion.

"I have the jet waiting for me; I'm supposed to be heading out in about an hour. You and Payton come with me. If Lynch is still following you he'll have no idea until it's too late. Then you'll be back in Quantico and have the whole team to protect you and your son."

Penelope stared at him open-mouthed then she began shaking her head "I can't…"

"Garcia please, I won't leave unless you come with me. The team will protect you and you'll be with family again. Besides, I know it's not my place, but I think Hotch deserves to know he has another son."

Penelope looked at him worriedly, her fingers fidgeting with the material of her shirt as Spencer waited anxiously for her answer.

…


	3. Chapter 3

**Don't Own. **

**Please R&R **

**Enjoy! **

…

"Please say yes Mama!" Both Penelope and Spencer turned to see Payton hurrying towards them.

Once he reached them he wrapped his arms around Penelope giving her a tight hug before looking up at her "Please say yes so we can go with Mr. Spencer and then we won't have to move around so much and I can meet my daddy."

Penelope, who was slightly in shock since she didn't know that Payton had heard them, hugged him back.

"Sweetheart I…we…it's just not that simple," she finally said.

"Why not?" Payton asked and his eyes started to tear up "Mr. Spencer made it sound easy. It wouldn't be any trouble would it?" he directed his question at Spencer.

Spencer hated to use Payton to get Penelope on their side but he wanted his friend back so he said "No it wouldn't be any trouble, I'd be happy if you came with me."

Penelope shot Spencer a glare as Payton looked hopefully up at his mother.

"Oh please Mama, I'm tired of always moving and I want to meet everyone you told me about, please say yes." Payton begged.

Penelope still looked unconvinced and tears began to roll down Payton's cheeks.

"Mama, I'm tired of you being scared all the time and always having to run away from the bad man," Payton's voice was almost a whisper "If Mr. Spencer can help us why won't you let him?"

"Oh Baby," Penelope said, tears coming to her own eyes she enveloped him in a hug "I'm sorry."

Spencer felt like he was intruding on an intimate moment as both Penelope and Payton hugged each other and cried. Spencer couldn't imagine going through what they had already been through. He imagined it must be a lonely life and knew it was natural for Payton to seek normality.

Penelope wiped a tear away and looked up at Spencer "Okay." She stated.

Spencer smiled at her "You'll come with me?"

"Yes," Penelope answered.

Payton jumped up with a shouted "Yes!"

Spencer laughed at that "Well if that's the case you guys better get packing, we'll need to leave soon."

Payton looked up at his mom for direction. "You heard him," Penelope said as she stood up "go get packing."

Payton gave her a wide grin and then hurried to his room.

Penelope looked at Spencer and then shook her head "I hope I don't live to regret this."

"I promise that you won't," Spencer said as he too stood up "Do you need any help?"

"I guess an extra pair of hands wouldn't be turned down," Penelope said and motioned for Spencer to follow her "By the way, why is the jet picking you up, I didn't think it was in the budget for the bureau to send the jet to pick up one agent."

Spencer laughed as he explained that another team had been dropped off at the Denver airport and that since no other teams had need of it, the Capitan was directed to wait for his conference to end.

…

They had just finished packing up everything they were going to need when Spencer's phone began to vibrate.

He looked down at the screen and saw that it was Hotch; he also realized that he had three missed text messages and 2 missed calls.

Spencer sighed, he looked over at Penelope and held up his finger to signal he only needed one minute and then they could leave.

Penelope nodded and headed in the direction of the bedrooms, bringing Payton with her to do one last check to make sure they hadn't forgotten anything.

Spencer pressed accept and answered the call "Hello."

"Reid?" Hotch asked from the other end "are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine," Spencer answered.

"Then will you explain to me why you skipped out on the second half of the conference, missing your speech, and why you haven't been answering your phone?" Hotch asked, his tone harsh.

"That's kind of hard to explain," Spencer said "something came up."

There was a short silence before Hotch's annoyed voice asked "What does that mean?"

"Listen Hotch, I need to get going if I'm going to catch the jet, I'll explain everything when I get back," Spencer said.

"Reid…" Hotch began a warning in his voice.

"I'm sorry," Spencer said knowing that his superior would not be happy with him "everything will make sense when I get back, I know you'll understand."

Before Hotch could say anything else Spencer hung up.

…

Once Spencer had cleared Penelope and Payton with the Captain, he ushered them out onto the tarmac.

"Whoa!" Payton exclaimed awestruck as they walked towards the jet. His eyes were wide and his mouth was hanging open "We really get to fly on that?"

"Yep," Spencer said as he gestured for Payton and Penelope to go ahead of him when they reached the stairs.

He watched as Penelope raised her arm to grasp the handrail and realized that she was shaking.

Spencer placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently as Payton raced up the steps ahead of them.

She seemed to take comfort in the gesture because her tense body relaxed and with a heavy exhale she ascended the stairs, Spencer right behind her.

"This is just so surreal," she said quietly to Spencer once they were inside "I never thought I'd be boarding this plane again."

Spencer gave her a small smile "I'm glad you are though."

Penelope turned to him with a watery smile but before she could say anything Payton rushed towards them "Mama! This is so awesome, I'm so happy you decided that we could come."

Penelope discreetly wiped a tear away and tried to smile at Payton "I'm glad you're happy Baby," she said to him quietly "thank you for helping me make the decision to come. Now why don't we find a seat before the plane takes off?"

Payton grinned at her and ran to the bench seat, Penelope followed him. Spencer sat down in the single seat across from them.

"This is so cool," Payton said kneeling on the bench seat so he could look out the window. He turned his head to look at Spencer. "Thank you for letting us come with you Mr. Spencer."

"You're very welcome," Spencer said "I'm sure everyone will be excited to meet you."

A huge grin appeared on Payton's face "You really think so?"

"I know so," Spencer assured him.

A faraway look appeared on Payton's face and Spencer had a feeling he was dreaming about what it would be like to meet Hotch.

Spencer turned to look at Penelope and saw that she was again looking unsure, biting on her lower lip.

"Seriously," Spencer said catching her gaze and holding it so that he knew he had her attention "the team is going to be ecstatic to see you. We've all missed you so much and we never gave up looking for you, always hoping you would come back to us one day."

"Never?" Penelope asked.

"Never," Spencer repeated with conviction "you surely haven't doubted that have you?"

Penelope shrugged "It's just that I thought you guys would be mad."

Spencer sighed and ran a hand through his hair "I'm not going to lie, we were mad at first. None of us could believe that you had really left us and it hurt us to know that you would. But with time, with us being profilers and all, we realized that there must have been something really troubling you to cause you to leave us. We had all seen it in the way you had been behaving before you left and it just strengthened our resolve to find you."

Penelope looked sad "I'm sorry I put you all through that."

"I know you are," Spencer said, not an ounce of anger in his voice. "Before you told me your story I was upset but now I get it. I know you wanted to come back to us and I'm sure once you explain that to everyone they will understand too."

Penelope sighed "Thanks Reid."

Spencer just nodded; he could see that had calmed her down some. She was still noticeably a bit worried but Spencer could sympathize with her, he had a feeling she too was thinking about Hotch and how he would react.

Truthfully Spencer wouldn't want to be in her position.

Then the plane began to rumble to life and Payton hurried to stare out the window.

"We're moving! We're moving!" he called out excitedly, pressing his face as close to the glass as he could.

Both Penelope and Spencer shared and amused look.

…

It was two hours into their flight and Spencer had moved to the table. He was working on an overview of the last case he and the team had been on. He needed to finish it before they reached Quantico so that he could hand it into Hotch.

Penelope had fallen asleep shortly after they had taken off. She was now lying curled up on the bench seat with Payton by her feet reading a comic.

Spencer was immersed in his work but looked up when he felt a presence near him.

Payton was standing next to the table with his comic book in one hand "Can I sit with you?" he asked.

"Sure," Spencer said, quickly putting away his papers, Payton didn't need to see any of the details.

Payton smiled and climbed into the seat across from Spencer. He placed the comic book on the table between them and looked over at his mom. "I finished reading my comic and I'm bored but I didn't want to wake Mama up."

"I'm glad you didn't," Spencer said honestly "she seems very tired."

"She doesn't sleep well," Payton said "she's always worried about the bad man coming and taking me away."

Spencer sighed sadly; he was again struck by how much Penelope had gone through. "Well you guys won't have to worry about that anymore."

"Good," Payton said "'cause I don't want Mama to have to worry ever again."

Spencer smiled at him. Payton really seemed like a great kid.

"So," Spencer said looking down at the comic book and noticing that it was also about the Avengers "you like superheroes huh?"

Payton nodded enthusiastically "Uh huh, I like Capitan America the best. Mama even took me to see the movie for my birthday."

"That sounds fun," Spencer said "did you like it?"

"Yeah!" Payton said "It was the best movie ever, there was so much action and the Hulk was really funny."

Spencer grinned "Do your friends like superheroes too?"

Payton frowned and then looked down "I…I don't have any friends," he said quietly and Spencer felt horrible for assuming he did. "I'm home schooled, I tried to make friends on my soccer team but the other kids don't like me. Mama said it's just because they don't understand but it really hurts my feelings when they gang up on me."

Spencer knew how Payton felt. He had been made fun of for most of his childhood because he was different. He hoped with all his heart that they would be able to sort out this Lynch thing quickly so that Payton and Penelope could finally have a normal life.

"Your mom is right," Spencer said "Kids can be mean, especially if they don't understand something such as being home schooled but when we get to Virginia you and your mom will be able to start over, and Payton I promise you it gets better."

Payton nodded but the joyous smile was gone from his face.

"When I was a kid my favorite superhero was Iron Man," Spencer stated trying to engage the boy and bring back his cheerful attitude and was pleased when Payton gave him a slight smile.

"It's because he's smart right?" Payton asked.

Spencer frowned, Payton had hit the nail on the head and he wondered how the boy could have possibly known that.

When Spencer didn't answer right away Payton continued. "Mama always said that you and the team were like superheroes, and you were the smart one like Tony Stark."

"Ah," Spencer said "well yes that is why I liked him. What else did your mom tell you about us?"

"Well she told me that all you guys were like a team of real life superheroes and that you work hard to catch the bad guys so that everyone else will be safe. Is that really what you do?"

Spencer nodded, he wasn't sure if he would call them superheroes but he understood why Penelope would explain it to Payton that way.

Payton lowered his eyes and stared at his hands "Sometimes…" he began his voice barely a whisper, a hurt expression showing across his face "I wonder why my dad, since he hunts down bad guys, why he never came and saved us."

Spencer tensed and his heart went out to the kid.

"Payton, look at me," Spencer told him.

Payton looked up, his eyes watery.

"Please believe me when I say that if your father had known where you and your mother were and if he knew you were in trouble he would have come. He would have brought you back home with him and made sure that Ly…the bad man could never hurt you again."

"Really?" Payton asked.

"Really," Spencer confirmed.

Payton bit his lip before asking "Do you think my dad will like me?"

Spencer again nodded. He knew Hotch would be shocked to find out he had another kid and it might take him a while to get used to the idea, but Spencer knew that once he had Hotch would want to get to know Payton. Spencer couldn't see the Unit Chief being annoyed by or angry at the little boy…now Penelope on the other hand, Spencer wondered how Hotch would act towards her. "I'm sure your dad will be pleased to meet you once he gets over the shock of it all of course."

Payton smiled "I hope so," he said and then yawned unable to hold it back.

"Why don't you get some sleep?" Spencer asked.

Payton looked like he was going to object but then he yawned again and reluctantly nodded. He curled up in his seat and closed his eyes. A few seconds later he asked Spencer "Will you wake me up before we land? I want to look out the window."

"Of course," Spencer said.

"Thanks…" Payton mumbled and then he was asleep.

Spencer felt touched that the boy trusted him enough to sleep in his presence.

…

"Payton, please be careful on the stairs," Penelope asked as she watched her son run towards the door of the plane.

Payton slowed down "Yes Mama," he said and grabbed the railing as he exited the plane.

Penelope walked to the door and looked out at the familiar tarmac. Her shoulders slumped for a moment and she took in a deep breath of fresh air. "I wasn't sure about this before," she said quietly to Spencer "but standing here now…somehow it just feels right." She turned to her friend, her expression revealing her gratitude "I don't know how I could possibly thank you."

Spencer leaned a bit closer to her "Just promise me one thing? That you'll never run away again."

Penelope wrapped her arms around Spencer's shoulders and hugged him tightly "You have my word," she said.

She gave him a soft smile as she pulled away and followed Payton down the stairs.

They picked up their luggage and walked to the Airport's garage where Spencer had his car waiting.

"We'll head to the BAU first," Spencer told them "the team will still be there so we can explain everything and figure out a safe place for you guys to stay until Lynch has been caught."

Penelope bit her lip but nodded.

…

Spencer, Penelope and Payton stood outside the glass doors of the bullpen. No one had noticed them yet but they could see Emily and Derek chatting at Emily's desk, as well as the Unit Chief in his office talking to someone that they couldn't make out.

Penelope gulped, she had the urge to turn and run the other way, not believing she could really go in there but a comforting hand on her shoulder grounded her.

…

Aaron sighed as he hung up the phone. He shook his head and took out his blackberry to make a note about going in to see Jack's principal. His son had been caught smoking outside the school, again.

"Having a rough day?"

Aaron looked up and smiled when he saw Dave standing in his doorway. The older man stepped inside his office and closed the door behind him.

"What's it been?" Aaron asked raising a brow at his friend "two, two and a half months, and you're already bored?"

"What?" Dave said in mock hurt "a friend can't drop by every once in a while to say hello?"

Aaron gave him a skeptical look.

"Okay fine," Dave muttered "It seems that retiring for the second time is even less exhilarating than the first time."

Aaron chuckled.

"So what has you looking so displeased…well more than normal that is?" Dave asked.

Aaron sighed again "Jack, it seems like he can't stay out of trouble."

"Ah," Dave said "the rebellious years."

"And I thought they would never come," Aaron stated "foolish of me I know."

Dave just shrugged "They will pass."

"Let's hope sooner rather than later," Aaron responded.

"So, how have the team been?" Dave asked, turning to the window to look out at the bullpen.

Aaron sighed again "They're okay. I doubt they would have taken your leaving so well if it hadn't been for Prentiss' return, but I do think they are still adjusting. I mean, just earlier today Reid skipped out on a conference he was supposed to speak at. Which as you know, even though he dislikes going to those types of things, is highly unlikely of him."

When Dave didn't respond Aaron looked up and frowned "Dave, did you hear me?"

As Aaron took in Dave's expression he noticed that his friend's eyes had widened and he had a disbelieving look on his face.

Dave turned to him as Aaron stood up to see what had caught his friend's attention. "I think I know what caused our resident genius to skip out on that conference." Dave stated before he turned and headed to the door.

Aaron followed him and was in for the shock of his life when he found what awaited them in the bullpen.


End file.
